“In the aftermath, the clear message came from people — not from politicians or the media — that an attack on our journalists, on our cartoonists, is more than an attack on free speech. It is an attack on us all”— Christian Allard, MSP

The Scottish Parliament has marked the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks at Charlie Hebdo magazine’s office in Paris.

French-born MSP Christian Allard proposed the motion that the parliament “reflect on the events that took place in Paris on 7 January 2015 at the Charlie Hebdo offices; remember the journalists, the police officer and others who fell victim to the attack; recognise the tragedy as an attack on the right of free speech” and further suggested that henceforth the date be designated a Cartoonists Day, an occasion when rather than dwelling upon the violent act of terrorists we remember the importance of humour, satire and tolerance of dissenting opinion as hallmarks of a healthy democratic society.

Immediately afterward the Cross-Party Group on France met and CRNI board member Terry Anderson led a discussion on the wider trend of persecution of cartoonists around the world in 2015. The Cabinet Secretary was again in attendance. This was an excellent opportunity to highlight the plight of colleagues harassed, prosecuted or imprisoned around the world, most especially Atena Farghadani, the recipient of our Courage in Cartooning Award and whose release is a top priority. Minutes from the meeting will be made available in due course via the CPG’s page on the Scottish Parliament website: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/68055.aspx

Iranian editorial cartoonist Hadi Heidari will likely stay behind bars until the late fall of 2016.

Heidari, 38, had been sentenced to a year in prison for his cartoons in 2013 — but after a month in jail, the cartoonist was released and his sentence suspended. However, two years later on Nov. 16, 2015, Heidari was re-arrested after posting a widely shared and tweeted cartoon in solidarity with the French people following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. He is now in jail to serve the remainder of that 2013 sentence.

Based on the draft of Judge Mohammed Moghisseh’s ruling in 2013, Heidari’s “Propaganda Activities” included “negatively portraying the situation [in Iran] for women, freedom of speech, wealth of society,” supporting the “Green Movement,” “insulting the high ranking officials of the regime” and “revolutionary organizations.” In addition, he has been charged with insulting war veterans, and portraying the Basij (Revolutionary Guards Volunteers) as naive individuals.

Judge Moghisseh ruled in 2013 that based on his published cartoons, Heidari be punished under the Article 500 of the Islamic Punitive Law.

In his decision, Judge Moghisseh also mentioned Heidari’s ’s membership of the banned “Mosharekat” party, his presence on social media, and the publication of his cartoons in anti-revolutionary outlets like Roozonline.com in France.

Courage in Cartooning recipient Atena Farghadani

The judge also considered Heidari’s cartoons criticizing the electoral supervision and claiming that the 2009 election was rigged a harmful action against the regime.

Heidari is the second cartoonist to be sent to Evin prison in recent months. Before Heidari, Atena Farghadani, the winner of CRNI’s 2015 Courage in Editorial Cartooning award, was given a 12 year/9 month jail sentence and is currently in the Women’s Ward of Evin prison.

Farghadani’s Appeals Court session was held in December 2015, but verdict has not yet been announced.

In 2012, six months after the offices of Charlie Hebdo had been gutted by a firebomb, CRNI’s Drew Roughier-Chapman recorded this interview with Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane “Charb” Charbonnier.

In the hours following the killings at the Charlie Hebdo offices, CRNI contributor Joanne Conger compiled this gallery of close to 500 cartoons from around the world. CRNI’s mission is to defend political cartoonists on the front lines of free speech, who are frequently the first victims of those opposed to freedom of expression. Nous sommes Charlie!

“… the Charlie Hebdo atrocity was undoubtedly the most high-profile and deadly attack on cartoonists ever seen. It was exceptional and sits apart from a wider and more pernicious trend of persecution by governments. An easy measure for the level of freedom a cartoonist enjoys is how much harassment he or she can expect after drawing a cartoon of their nation’s leaders. And if it can be demonstrated that cartoonists are in jeopardy, you can rest assured that journalists, commentators and oppositional voices of every stripe are too” — cartoonist Terry Anderson looking back on the year since the Charlie Hebdo killings, for Glasgow’s Sunday Herald.

I and CRNI completely support Ann Telnaes’ cartoon animation about Sen. Ted Cruz and his children. Cruz clearly and egregiously opens the door to his family life when he brings his children onstage performing in his political video. The’re seen expressing their lines, which of course were scripted by dear old dad, in order to raise more money. Quite an inappropriate exploitation of his own children, if you ask me.

The party that was wrong in all of this was the Washington Post, which spent only minutes determining that they should throw Ann under the bus by apologizing and taking the animation off of their website. Ann pushed the envelope for free speech just a little bit farther. Too bad the editors of the Washington Post didn’t have the sense or presence of mind to understand what was going on. Of course, they are still getting settled in with their new owner.

Cruz campaign cartoon tweet

It was Ted Cruz who overstepped the red line this time, not Ann Telnaes. It was nice to see however that the Cruz team came out with their own counter-cartoon poking fun at Hillary Clinton walking her two dogs, the Washington Post and the New York Times. For that they get some credit.

In another theater, it is interesting that police in India are now starting to publish their own counter-cartoons. See the story from Assem Trivedi elsewhere on our website.